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Pre Colonial Period 121115025058 Phpapp01 PDF
Pre Colonial Period 121115025058 Phpapp01 PDF
and culture
Introduction: Pre - History
The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered by
prehistory and early history of the Philippines archipelago and its inhabitants, which
are the indigenous forebears of today's Filipino people.
These early Filipinos possessed a culture and technology that were quite advanced
considering the timeline of history of science when it flourished. Waves of migrants
who came to settle in the islands contributed to the development of ancient
Philippine civilization. Prehistoric aborigines, a cross of Afro-Asiatic and Austro-
Aborigines, now called Negritos (Aeta, Agta, Ayta) reached the islands by way of
land bridges around 15,000 to 30,000 BC, and they were excellent hunters and food
gatherers. In its midst, other ancient civilizations were also thriving and evolving.
The Proto-Malays, a Mongol-Asiatic race, arrived around 2500 BC using oceanic
vessels called balangays, and they brought with them their knowledge in
seafaring, farming, building of houses from trees and creation of fire for cooking.
The next to arrive were the Duetero-Malays, of India-Asiatic race
(Indian, Chinese, Siamese, Arabic), that prevailed with a more superior and
advanced culture. They possessed their own systems of writing, knowledge and skills
in agriculture, metallurgy, jewelry-making as well as boat-building. When the
Spaniards came to the islands in the 15th century, industries such as
mining, agriculture, fishing and pottery were already in place and contacts with
other Asian nations had been long established.
Peopling of the
Pre-Colonnial
Philippines
The Negritos were early settlers but their appearance in
the Philippines has not been reliably dated ; and they
were followed by speakers of the Malayo-Polynesian
languages, a branch of the Austronesian languages, who
began to arrive in successive waves beginning about 4000
B.C.E, displacing the earlier arrivals.